Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1108

 1056 JAPAN : — FORMOSA (TAIWAN)

The imports in 1919 included cotton goods, 69,486,157 yen ; cotton yarn, 5,151.060 yen ; machiuery, 9,432,910 yen ; silk goods, 1,017,810 yen ; timber, 3,276,151 yen; kerosene oil, 8,>50,895 yen; grass cloth, 7,079,499 yen ; sugar, 4,161,178 yen ; paper, 4,511,805 yen ; coal, 14,384,69S yen. The principal exports were rice, 110,030,878 yen ; beans, peas, pulse, 23,068,301 yen; hides, 3,254,720 yen; cattle, 3,478,140 yen; gold ore, 1,231,639 yen. Of the total imports, the value of 184,917,678 yen was from Japan ; of the exports, the value of 199,848,854 yen was to Japan. Fiom Great Britain and the United States of America respectively, imports amounted to 5,576,424 yen and 24,181,916 yen.

Shipping and Communication.— The foreign-going shipping entered at the open ports in 1919 had a tonnage of 565,903, and those that cleared a tonnage of 551,238.

Transport in the interior is by porters, pack-horses and oxen, and by river. Improvements in road making are being effected. There are about 1,400 miles of road. Length of railways, 1920, 1,159 miles ; number of passengers carried (1919-20), 12,184,485. The Korean system of railways is now connected with the Siberian and Chinese lines.

A street electric railway in Seoul has been extended in four directions to points three miles outside the city. Number of post offices (1920) 562. There are 1,996 miles of telegraph line open, and the lines connect with the Japanese and the Chinese systems. The telephone has been introduced at Seoul, Chemulpo, and several other towns ; length of lines 1,336 miles.

Money. — Regulations for banking were framed in 1906. In 1919 there were 15 ordinary banks with 12,000,000 yen paid-up capital.

A central bank, the Bank of Chosen, was established in August, 1909, and in November it took the place of the First Bank of Japan (Dai-Ichi-Oinko) as the Government Treasury. Notes of this bank are permitted to circulate unrestrictedly within the jurisdiction of the Government-General of Chosen and are exchangeable with gold coin and convertible notes issued by the Bank of Japan. The Bank of Chosen has a paid-up capital (1920) of 50 million yen, the deposits amounting to 178,573,456 yen. Notes issued to June 30, 1920, 108,239,690 yen. Against their issue must be provided a reserve of the same amount, consisting of croid coin, gold and silver bullion, and convertible notes of the Bank of Japan ; silver bullion, however, must not exceed one-fourth of the total reserve. The savings bank in 1919-20 had 1,406,259 depositors with a total amount 14,925,990 yen.

The coinage consists of gold pieces of 5-, 10-, and 20-yen, silver of 10-, 20-, and 50-sen, nickel of 5-sen, and bronze of 1-sen and 5-rin. The old nickel coin has been practically wholly withdrawn from circulation, and the cash currency is now used only for petty transactions. Under certain regula- tions, bills of exchange and cheques may pass into the currency. In the more important commercial towns there are authorised 'note associations' of merchants for the transaction of business relating to bills.

British Consul-General at Seoul. — A. Hyde Lay, C.M.G.

Vice-Consvl at Seoul, — W. B. Cunningham.

FORMOSA (TAIWAF).

The Island of Formosa, or Taiwan, was ceded to Japan by China by th» treaty which was ratified on May 8, 1895, and Japan took formal possession on June 2 of the same year. Japanese civil government in the island began on March 31, 1896.

The Island has an area of 13,839 square miles, with a population (1918